Somebody for Someone
by Lorelai Danes
Summary: L/L. Lorelai is left home alone for a week during Rory's winter break...old fic I am reposting...I wrote this in 2002 and is set after "The Bracebridge Dinner".
1. Chapter 1

A/N - Takes place a few days after "The Bracebridge Dinner". This story happens as if Rory said yes to Christopher's invitation to stay at his house for a few days during Christmas break.

Pairing - L/L

Disclaimer - WB owns all, I own nothing. Not making money either.

Somebody For Someone

* * * * * * * * *

Lorelai looked out of the living room window mournfully, silently waiting for Christopher's Volvo to appear in the driveway. When it finally pulled up, she let out a heavy sigh and called to Rory.

"Rory, he's here!." She yelled and slowly got up from the couch.

Rory came racing out of her room, grinning. "Dad's here?" She squealed in obvious excitement.

Lorelai forced a smile and nodded. "Yup."

Rory instantly ran over to her mom, hugging her furiously. "Mmmm, I'll miss you so much." She said.

Lorelai pulled back and smiled. "Yeah, right. You'll be having way too much fun with your new mommy to be thinking about silly old me." Lorelai said and made a pretend pouty face.

Rory shook her head. "Sherry's not my new mommy. She's not even a mommy."

"Hmmm, okay." Lorelai smiled weakly and watched as Rory ran over to the front door. She flung it open to reveal Christopher, dressed in nice pants and a sweater.

"Hey, Rory." He grinned and gave her a massive hug. "You ready to go?"

Rory nodded and grabbed her stuff while Lorelai walked over to them.

"Hey, Chris." She said and welcomed him in a small embrace, patting him on the back. "So, when will you be bringing my baby back?" She smiled, looking at Rory, who was rolling her eyes.

Christopher thought for a second. "Well, it's Saturday so she'll be home by Tuesday. That good?" Christopher asked.

Rory smiled. "Don't worry, it's good."

Christopher nodded. "I'll be in the car. Is this all your stuff?" He pointed to a book bag and suitcase.

"Yup. I'll be right out." Rory replied, handing the luggage over to her dad.

The second Christopher left, Lorelai wrapped her arms around Rory again, squeezing her tightly while kissing the top of her head. "Don't let them abduct you, okay?"

Rory laughed. "I won't."

"And if Sherry tries anything fresh, you give me a call, okay?" Lorelai told her, still squeezing Rory incessantly.

"Ew, gross." Rory said and disentangled herself from her mom. "I'll be home Tuesday, just hang in there until I get back."

"What am I gonna do without you? I'll be all alone." Lorelai whined and grabbed Rory again, trying to hug her.

She moved away and shook her head. "No, you won't be alone. You have Sookie, Luke, Miss. Patty, Babette, Bootsy, Kirk-"

"Michel, Drella, the ugly cable guy." Lorelai interrupted

"Grandma, Grandpa." Rory giggled. "Just kidding. You'll have fun, I promise."

Before Lorelai could respond, a honk from Christopher's car came from outside.

After giving her mom one last squeeze, Rory started walking away.

Lorelai called after her. "I'll be counting the minutes until you return!"

Rory just turned around and waved at her mother, smiling.

"Maybe even the seconds!" Lorelai yelled from the doorway. Once the car pulled out of the driveway and rolled along the street, Lorelai plopped her body onto the couch.

"What am I supposed to do now?" She muttered to herself. She glanced around the room, her eyes eventually resting on a few photographs of her and Rory which were sitting on the mantelpiece. Sighing, Lorelai laid down on the couch and slowly drifted off to sleep.

* * * * * * * *

The diner was filled to capacity the next morning and Luke was just swamped. It seemed as if everywhere he turned, he had to wait on someone. Jess was upstairs asleep, but Luke didn't want to wake him. Luke still felt a little bad about Liz not asking Jess home for Christmas break, so he was determined to make this week really great and if that meant sleeping until five o' clock in the afternoon, then that's what would happen. After the morning rush of people left around eleven-thirty, Luke was finally able to take a break. He slumped his exhausted body into a chair and closed his eyes for a few moments. When he heard the door jingle a little bit, he sighed and looked up. Lorelai was standing there, looking sort of sad.

She smiled weakly at him. "Hey, you still serving breakfast?" She asked him and sat down at the counter. Luke glanced at her oddly and nodded.

"I serve it all day, you hadn't noticed?" He got up and poured her some coffee automatically.

"Oh, yeah, I guess." She sighed and sipped the coffee he brought her.

"You look happy." He grunted as he reached for a donut underneath the plastic container that sat on the counter. "Sugar always seems to cheer you up." He smiled and handed her a sprinkled one.

"Aw, thanks." She grinned and bit into it hungrily. "Mmmm, I feel more cheery already." She mumbled through her chews, causing a few sprinkles to fly out of her mouth, hitting Luke in the arm.

"That's attractive." He said sarcastically.

"I know." She swallowed while observing his worn out face. "You look terrible."

"Thank-you." He sighed, sitting across from her on his stool.

"No, I didn't mean you look terrible, what I meant was, you look like you feel terrible."

"Right back at you." He smiled and looked around. "Where's Rory?"

Lorelai's face fell immediately. "Oh, she's staying with her dad for a few days." She sighed and picked sadly at the remains of her donut. "I miss her already."

"That doesn't surprise me."

"Ugh, what am I supposed to do, wrap presents and eat junk food all by myself?" She whined and shoved the last morsel of donut into her mouth.

"You still haven't wrapped yet?"

"Nope. I always wait until the very last minute." She smiled proudly. "If you hadn't noticed, I make it a point to be as lazy as possible."

"Is that your long-term goal? To be the laziest woman on Earth?" He questioned.

"And it's surrounding planets, yes." She smiled and held out her mug. "Fill please." She stated and watched him roll his eyes. "Hey, no eye rolling, I had a bad day yesterday."

"Sorry, but it's become a habit."

"Well, then break it because I'm sad." She pushed the cup at him and watched him as he filled it.

She sighed and continued. "And you know what's even worse?"

"What?"

"I'm off from work this week. That means not only do I have no Rory but I'll be forced to sit in that house all alone every single day."

"Same here." He said and began wiping the already clean countertop.

"No, you have Jess."

Luke laughed a little. "Please. He doesn't even count. As far as I'm concerned, he's just a mute mass of flesh that just sits up there all day, listening to loud music and eating my food."

"I thought you said it was going good between you guys?" She eyed him curiously. "Okay, what happened?"

"Nothing happened."

"Something happened." She repeated, then pretended to look shocked. "Luke, did he steal all your copies of 'Penthouse' magazine and now you're furiously mad at him because he cut out all of the good pictures and left you with the ones of those ugly, fat women pretending to look sexy even though everyone knows they don't?"

He looked up from the counter and looked embarrassed. "That's pretty unlikely considering I don't own any 'Penthouse' magazines."

"Yeah, whatever." She grinned, knowing she was making him feel awkward and embarrassed. "Don't worry, he'll give them back eventually."

"Okay, this conversation is over." He declared and sat down again, sighing in exhaustion. "I'm too tired to work today, I think I'll close up after you leave."

"Is that a hint for me to get going?" She smiled and handed him a few dollars.

"Since when do you pay me?" He asked, looking at the money sitting on the counter.

"You let me sit here and complain at you when I know you're feeling bummed so I figured I'll be a good paying customer for once." She answered and stood up. "I'll see you tomorrow, get some rest." She pointed a finger at him. "Because I don't want you to be closed tomorrow."

"I think I will. Bye." He waved to her as he watched her leave the diner.

To be continued........

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

*In Chapter 2 - Luke brings Lorelai dinner at her house because he closed up early. :grins: Hehehehe......review please!*


	2. Chapter 2

Somebody For Someone

* * * * * * * *

Lorelai Gilmore was sprawled out on the couch, snuggling herself underneath a warm, soft blanket. She had it pulled up all the way to her chin and relished herself in the comfort it supplied. Popcorn kernels were plotted all over the carpet while the smell of burnt hamburgers flooded the room. The television was turned on, which meant the game show, "Wheel of Fortune" filled the empty room.

"Ugh, c-mon....buy a vowel, buy a vowel!" Lorelai muttered loudly under her breath. "How do these idiots get onto these game shows, anyway? They're so stupid."

The television was loud, but Lorelai still heard a faint knock on the door. She immediately flicked off the television, obviously aching for somebody's company. By the time she reached the door, the soft knocking had escalated into banging.

"I'm coming!" She shouted as she unlocked the door. When she opened it, there stood Luke with a box of food and some coffee.

She instantly grinned when she saw him. "Hey, what's all this?" She asked him as he walked past her into the house.

"Well, I thought you might be hungry and I was afraid you might try to cook something on your own."

She looked down to face the floor sheepishly while he breathed in deeply, inhaling the aroma of burnt meat. "Nevermind, I see you already did and weren't too successful."

"How'd you know?" She asked him as she sat down on the couch, removing some of the clutter so Luke could join her.

He sat down beside her and answered. "Well, it smells like an incinerator in here so I just took a wild guess." He started unloading all of the food from the box, setting it out in front of them. She noticed that Luke had made a burger for himself, also.

Lorelai scoffed in shock. "Luke, that's a burger!"

"Oh my God, really? I thought it was fried rice." He answered sarcastically.

"No, Luke! You can't eat burgers, they endanger your health and poison you with all of their red meat juices and stuff!"

Luke sighed and handed her a paper coffee cup. "Do you honestly think that I'm sitting here eating a red meat burger?"

"Well, let's see." She took the burger out of his hands and peered at it closely. "Looks like a burger, smells like a burger, feels like a burger, oh by George, I do believe it's a burger."

He grabbed it away from her again. "Yes, it's a turkey burger made of pure white meat." He handed her a real cheeseburger. "This however, is made of red meat that can only do you harm." He looked at it in disgust.

She patted his back and smiled. "Now there's the Luke I know." She bit into her food and moaned. "Mmmm, you don't know what you're missing, Luke."

"Yeah, I think I do." He smiled and glanced around at the room. "So, I see you're not too big on cleaning up after you make a mess."

She made a face a shook her head. "Rory's a neat freak and cleans up after me, but, since she's not here, I can have the house as messy as I want."

He nodded. "So, I take it you didn't start wrapping those presents yet either?"

"Of course not." She said as she dug into a pile of fries that sat in the "Luke's" box. "And besides the fact that I always wait until the last minute, I'm also in desperate need of help with the whole process."

"Why?"

"Because I'm completely wrapping impaired. All the presents I wrap end up looking like I sat on them before running them over with a steamroller."

"You're exaggerating." He smiled. She gave him a look and he instantly shook his head. "Or maybe not."

She thought for a second before turning to face him. "Hey, you with the white burger, what did you get me?"

"For Christmas?"

"No, for Kwanzaa." She smirked and continued eating her fries.

"Well, I didn't get you anything for Kwanzaa, but maybe I did for Christmas." He grinned.

"Oooh, do tell, do tell." She urged him.

"Um, doesn't that kinda defeat the purpose of wrapping the present?"

"No. Now tell me, please?" She begged. "I'll eat a turkey burger tomorrow if you tell me."

Luke sighed. "As much as I would love, or maybe even pay, to see that, I can't tell you what I bought."

"Hmmm, I may just be a paranoid woman here, but is this your way of telling me you didn't get me anything?"

"No, I got you something." Luke insisted, then added, "Something nice."

She smiled and nodded. "Good. I got you something, too. I don't know if you'd call it 'nice' exactly, but I find it pretty damn funny."

They shared a warm smile and went back to eating their food. A few minutes passed and the two friends were completely enjoying the comfortable silence that came over them.

When they finished eating, Lorelai broke the silence. "Hey, why don't we watch a movie?" She suggested.

"Well that all depends, what kind of movie?"

"A Christmas movie." She chirped and turned the television back on. "There's bound to be one on. Sit down, you're not going anywhere." She patted the seat next to her. "I'm bored and lonely, you need to keep me entertained."

He sighed and sat down. "I now officially know what it's like to be Rory."

"Oh, I know it's tough, but fun too, right?" She grinned at him.

"Yeah." He smiled again and leaned back into the couch.

Lorelai shivered. "Man, it's freezing in here. What happened to my heater?"

Luke shrugged. "Maybe it broke. I'll take a look at it tomorrow."

"Aw, thanks. Bring Bert, too." She said and grabbed the blanket off of the floor to cover herself up with it. When she saw Luke looking sort of chilly, she offered it to him. "You want the blanket?"

"Oh, no, you can have it." He said.

"We can share it, but only if you promise not to do anything dirty." She grinned upon seeing his face turn red.

He sighed. "Just find a movie."

"Ha! Once again, I make Luke blush. How did I become so talented?" She gloated and handed him part of the blanket. She jokingly rubbed his knee softly from underneath the fabric, causing him to squirm.

He blushed and turned to face her. "Could you, I don't know, not do that?"

"I'm trying to make you turn red again." She grinned happily.

"Well, you've succeeded." He said, reaching underneath the covers and removing Lorelai's hand.

"Don't I always?" She laughed and settled back into the warm cushions. She flipped through the channels for a little while before finally landing on "It's A Wonderful Life" on PBS. By the time the movie was almost over, Lorelai's body had somehow melted into Luke's. They were very sleepy and hadn't really notice the close contact. Soon, they were both asleep, with their arms wrapped protectively around each other's waists.

To be continued........


	3. Chapter 3

Somebody For Someone

* * * * * * * *

Lorelai opened her eyes and adjusted them to the bright room. She glanced over at Luke, who was asleep next to her, breathing quietly. They had somehow managed to squeeze themselves onto the couch without it being too uncomfortable. Her head rested itself against the arm of the couch and faced the coffee table, her back to Luke, while he was positioned in between Lorelai's back and the couch. Trying not to wake him, she slipped out from underneath the covers and slid quietly into the kitchen. She hadn't noticed, but her hands were trembling as she sat down at the table. Sighing, she got up to make herself some coffee and Luke some tea for when he woke up. After all, he did bring her dinner the night before. Turning on the teapot, she smiled in recollection of the sweet thing he had done for her.

She sat down again, the small grin still on her lips. "He always thinks of me." She whispered quietly.

Directly after she spoke, she saw Luke hobble into the kitchen, looking confused and disoriented. His flannel shirt was half-unbuttoned while his hair, the cap gone, appeared ruffled and frizzy.

Lorelai grinned as Luke plopped down onto one of the kitchen chairs.

"Ha, you have bed head." She laughed. "So is that why you wear that baseball cap all the time, to hide your hair?"

He glared at her. "No, that's not why. I wear it because I like it." He said while attempting to smooth out his hair. "It gives me a little character."

She shook her head. "Excuses, excuses. So, uh, are you hungry? We still have some left-overs from last night, I could stick some burgers in the microwave."

Luke groaned and shook his head.

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Oh, Luke, now don't tell me you have something against microwaves, too."

"No, I just can't imagine eating burgers for breakfast." He retorted, still flattening his hair.

"I didn't ask you to imagine it, I asked you if you wanted any." She smiled and poured his tea. He thanked her and sipped it, nodding approvingly.

"Wow, this is good." He commented.

"Yes, well, I can boil water if that's what you mean."

He shook his head. "No, really, it's great."

"Thanks." She said and went into the refrigerator to get some food. After it was heated, she sat back down again.

She cleared her throat thoughtfully. "So, uh, how'd you sleep last night?" She stammered.

He looked worried, but forced a smile. "Um, good. You?"

"You snore."

He blushed and looked down. "Sorry."

She laughed and hit him playfully on the arm. "I'm just kidding. You were actually pretty quiet."

"No, I meant that I'm sorry for falling asleep. I didn't mean to, it was just an accident." He apologized, his voice a little wavery and nervous.

Lorelai shook her head. "Why are you sorry? You're allowed to stay here whenever you want."

"Well, I'm just....I don't know, but I'm sorry." He got up from the chair. "So, I guess I better get going, the diner should've opened hours ago."

Lorelai nodded, but then jumped up while he was almost out the door. "Wait, Luke!"

He turned around. "Yeah?

"What about my heater? You said you'd fix my heater." She smiled at him warmly.

He thought for a second, then nodded. "Okay, but I gotta go get my toolbox."

She nodded and watched him walk down the front steps before closing the door behind her.

* * * * * * * *

"What's that thing?" Lorelai asked while sitting on the basement floor with a dish of ice cream, watching Luke as he fixed her heater.

He made a face as her held up a greasy pipe. "Uh, I'm not too sure."

"Well, put it back, it looks important."

Luke nodded and reattached it to the heater. "So, when's Rory getting back?"

Lorelai groaned. "Ugh, not for like fifty years."

"Really." He said, unconvinced.

"Well, Tuesday actually. But, it feels like fifty years." She stirred the ice cream around in her dish, looking depressed again.

"If you didn't want her to go, then why'd you let her?" He asked.

She looked up from her dish and smiled. "Aw, I couldn't do that to her, Luke, you should've seen how happy she looked. I mean, she doesn't get to see him that much and she sees me all the time, so I figured why not let her go."

Luke banged on the heater a few more times. "You're a good mom."

"And you're a good, um, diner owner." She laughed. He just smiled and shook his head, concentrating intently on fixing her heater.

A few minutes later, Luke announced, "All done."

"Oh, thank God!" Lorelai exclaimed as she stood next to the heater, basking in it's warmth. "So, I guess I can cancel that frostbite survival kit I ordered earlier."

"Yup, you can." He said as he lifted his toolbox off of the floor. "So, I should get going, I guess."

She turned around and nodded. "Oh, yeah, I guess." Lorelai said in a deflated tone, thinking about how she'll have to spend the rest of the day alone, again.

Luke looked at her for a second. "So I guess I'll see you later."

He studied her facial expression for a moment before clearing his throat. "Or, uh, maybe we could go somewhere, you know, somewhere else."

"Like where?" She asked, her eyes brightening.

"Uh, I don't know. Wherever." He said, still not believing that he had asked her to go somewhere.

"Hmmm, you're not just taking pity on my lonely, pathetic existence, are you?" She asked.

"That's exactly what I'm doing, so where do you wanna go?" He asked, walking up the stairs with Lorelai in tow.

Once back in the living room, she looked up at the ceiling and thought for a moment, before turning to face Luke again. "The diner."

He looked surprised. "The diner? But, you just ate."

She laughed. "Hey, has that ever stopped me before?" She smiled and grabbed her coat off of the rack. "Anyway, I need coffee."

"But, you just had coffee about two seconds ago." He insisted, not advancing toward the door, where she was heading out.

She stopped walking and turned around. "Once again, has that ever stopped me before?"

He sighed heavily. "Come on, Lorelai, I really don't feel like opening the diner this late. Let's just go somewhere else."

"You don't have to open, we'll just go in for a sec and you can make me coffee a little something to eat. Then, we can go wherever you want. Okay?" She asked, pleading impatiently with her eyes.

He looked at her a moment before allowing a small smile to grow on his face. "Yeah, okay."

She made a giddy sound, which caused Luke to shake his head. "You scare me sometimes."

* * * * * * * *

"Fascinating." Lorelai gasped, almost inaudibly, while watching Luke take some freshly baked muffins out of the diner's oven. "Ooh, my turn!"

"Just don't burn yourself." He warned, while handing her a metal tray, which was scattered with uncooked muffins. "It's very hot."

She rolled her eyes and smiled. "I think I'm aware of that. Hey, do I get to wear the cool-looking glove thingys?"

He rolled his eyes and handed them to her. "They're called pot holders."

"Pot holders. Dirty." She smiled as she put them on.

"Do say that about everything?" He asked, confused. "Just be careful."

After finishing her task of cooking the muffins, Luke and Lorelai sat at a table in the closed diner with the large plate of muffins in front of them.

Lorelai bit into one of them and moaned. "Mmmm, this is so good. It must be one of yours."

Luke picked one up also and slowly bit off a little piece, immediately making a distorted face. He swallowed painfully with a large gulp of his water. "And this must be one of yours."

"Gross?" She asked.

"Extremely." He replied, pushing the plate over to her side of the table.

"Well, that's what you get for letting me use your stove." She replied while devouring her muffin.

"You promised me you'd follow the recipe exactly." He reminded her while watching her sip her coffee.

Her eyes widened in surprise. "Hey, I did follow it exactly. I just thought it could've used a little extra sugar. That's all." She said defensively.

"How little?"

"Mmmm, maybe just an extra cup or two." She smiled innocently.

Luke shook his head. "These are supposed to be blueberry muffins not sugar muffins. Next time follow the recipe."

Lorelai smiled excitedly. "There's going to be a next time?"

Luke stared at her for a second. "Only if you promise to cook normal muffins instead of these disgusting surgery things disguised as normal muffins."

Lorelai groaned. "Ugh, do I have to?"

"If you want there to be a next time, yes, you have to." Luke said while smiling inwardly to himself. "Do you promise not to waste good sugar and good batter next time?"

Lorelai hung her head. "Yeah, yeah, I promise."

"Good. Now, where do you wanna go?" Luke asked her.

Lorelai thought for a second before answering. "Well, when I'm really bored I usually come here, but the next best thing would have to be the mall." Excitement rose in her voice at the mere thought of it. "Oh! It's almost Christmas! The sales will be everywhere, right and left. So many sales, so little time, Luke, what do you say, huh? Can we go to the mall?"

Luke groaned. "That's what you do in your spare time?"

"The one and only thing." She grinned and grabbed her purse. "Come on, Luke, you know you want to."

"Absolutely not. No way." He replied.

Luke stood up and began to bring the empty plates over to the counter. Lorelai followed him and tapped his shoulder.

He turned around to face her. "No."

Lorelai smiled at him. "But, they have flannel. Lots and lots of flannel. It's almost like a flannel heaven, Luke, you'll love it. They might even have some buy one get one free flannels because you can never really have too many. Well, you can't, anyway."

"I'm not going shopping." Luke grumbled as he began to wipe the counter where he spilt some sugar. "What else do you like to do?"

"Annoy you mercilessly." She grinned and sat down on a stool.

"I'm not going along with that plan either. What else?" He asked.

"Can we do what me and Rory would usually do on winter break?"

He stopped wiping and looked at her for a second. "What would you and Rory do?"

"Yes or no?" Lorelai asked, wearing a mischievous grin.

"I can't okay an activity if I don't even know what it is." Luke replied.

"Yes or no?" Lorelai repeated.

Luke sighed. "This can't be a good thing."

"Yes or no?"

Luke dropped his head then brought it back up. He sighed and gave in. "Fine, yes, we can so what you and Rory would do."

"Great, we'll go buy some flannel. You wanna drive?" Lorelai grinned and hopped off of the stool.

Luke sighed and grumbled. "Yeah, I'll drive."

Lorelai grinned excitedly and followed Luke out of the diner.

To be continued...


End file.
